As I understand it, the third-tier competition would take place in a similar window to the former NRC and ARC, thus eliminating any overlap issues with SRP – also, I added the other teams to give this a broad appeal that extends outside rugby’s base.

Also, looking at it, the U23 competition would work very well as a feeder into the third-tier competition and a pipeline – you are onto something there, though I would try to get fan engagement (unless you want it to get crowds of less than 1000 people).

Both those models, in my opinion, would be awful: a National Club Competition simply will not work, and good luck getting 1000 people to turn up to a game of a National Under-23s competition if you have it as your third tier (a reserves competition makes more sense).

My preferred model would have the four SR teams plus four new teams – in Western Sydney, Brisbane (second team), Melbourne and Adelaide, and add Newcastle and North Queensland later on, i.e. when the competition is five years in. Further, I would have a double round-robin (14 games over 15 weeks) and a McIntyre Final Four to determine the premiers, so you have a full competition.

Out of disclosure, I didn’t have player development at the front of my mind – the logistical and practical side of things would ensure the failure of any National Club Competition – but the complete lack of player development, and also of any emerging talent, would also be a factor.

In any case, I believe the Wallabies and Super Rugby players would agree with the women’s game in sitting it out – why they would waste their time on this is beyond me.

I only see a National Club Competition being a complete failure – apart from only Sydney and Brisbane teams having any chance of winning, the clubs have a minimal to non-existent fanbase outside their local areas, the club grounds are not broadcast quality (and would be prohibitively expensive to upgrade), and the logistics would be a nightmare.

Conclusion: it would be a total waste of time for those outside Sydney and Brisbane, as well as for women club rugby players and fans (NB: no women’s competition was mentioned, and I sincerely doubt the women’s game would be interested in any event).

To resolve this, I would personally have Wests Magpies return as a standalone club, with Balmain being required to relocate to Adelaide in exchange for staying in the NRL – I also have the NRL or a third party offering Balmain a substantial financial incentive to relocate to the City of Churches.

I would also subsequently add Ipswich and Christchurch as well, thus giving us a 22-team NRL and NRLW.

Well, this is a very fine turn of events: I had expected a National Club Championship, but using the four Super Rugby teams is a solid bet.

However, I would be giving this a broad appeal extending outside the sport’s base by running it as a money spinner that can draw big crowds – as well as adding a second team in Brisbane and teams in Western Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, along with having a double round-robin and a McIntyre Final Four.

As for the Japanese League One and League Two teams, I would keep them for pre-season, as I doubt they would have a fanbase in Australia (feel free to correct me if I am wrong).

That is part of the reason – the Bears were a requirement, and it seems Cumins basically blew them off from all reports.

In fact, the Cumins consortium has caused a complete and utter fiasco: other issues include talking to the Newtown Jets in breach of the Bears requirement, as well as bringing in new investors with no notice (one of them being Paul Kind, who is persona non grata with the NRL), and having the audacity to stiff the ARLC on the license fee. It’s no surprise that his consortium has been shown the door.

Peter V’Landys has said the Bears will be happening – to quote Mark Twain, reports of the Bears’ death have been greatly exaggerated – and PVL is currently negotiating with the WA Government, Premier Roger Cook and the Bears at this point in time.

If we go with eight teams, that could give you 21 games over 22 rounds (i.e. each team plays each other thrice, with one bye) with a McIntyre Final Four – that’s 26 weeks in total, or two months longer than Super Rugby.

Also, I would add a second team in Sydney and Brisbane, and teams in Melbourne and Adelaide, to the Australian Super Rugby teams, to make this work.

This setup is very good, and has decent windows for represenative/State of Origin football, while 22 games seems like a fair deal compared to the current 24 (problematic with 20 teams) and a possible 19 (the broadcasters virtually ensure that is not gonna happen, and no club will be giving up 21% of gameday revenue).
That said, I would also get rid of the deeply unpopular Pre-Season Challenge to have a 23 game season (25 weeks with two byes), while I feel that you can’t sell a 20th place team: to correct this glaring problem, I would split the clubs into two divisions – Premiership and Challenge, with promotion/relegation – and have a Final Five in each: the NRLW Grand Finals would remain as a curtain-raiser to the NRL Grand Finals to maximize attendance.
This means there’s not that much difference, while you have 242 games a year as opposed to the 232 in your format in the NRL and NRLW (I’m working on the NRLW having all 20 teams at this point: having promotion/relegation would guarantee that in Year 1 of the 20 team comp).

I wasn’t intending to replace the old NRC (I hadn’t thought of it like that), but yes, I was talking about a semi-professional national club competition on the lines of the Champions Cup in Europe: the 20 qualifying teams would be based on season finish.

I also point out having the top four in each of the Shute Shield and Hospital Cup as part of a 20 club competition would be better than having all 21 clubs from those competitions (including one or two who had awful seasons).

Sorry if that wasn’t what you expected, but a) the player draft prevents Easts, Brothers and Randwick et al from dominating – also giving fans outside Sydney and Brisbane a reason to watch – and b) Causarina would relish the chance to take on Beasties, possibly in West Aussie (one wonders how Beasties would hold up in the baking sun).

My proposed competition would also take place after the club competitions are over, and give teams six pool games (i.e. playing each other team in their pool twice): I also have a women’s competition, which as far as I know has not been mentioned.

I don’t think this format will work at all, sorry to say it – having all 21 teams from Shute Shield and the Hospital Cup automatically qualify is simply ludicrous, while the representative teams would have little or no prospect of winning this competition and a limited fanbase (good luck getting 500 people to turn up to Brisbane Norths v Queensland Country).

I think you could have an Elite Rugby Series (ERS) with four teams each from the Shute Shield, Hospital Cup and John Dent Cup, two teams each from the Dewar Shield, WA Premier Grade and SA Premier Grade, and one team each from Darwin Premier Grade and the Tasmanian Rugby Championship – 20 clubs in total – with five pools of four and an eight-club knockout culminating in a Grand Final.

I would also have a player draft eight weeks before the Series to prevent Shute Shield and Hospital Cup teams from perennially dominating the Series.

Well, I guess Dan had to call it sometime – I’m thinking that an NRC could be in the frame once Super Rugby is gone.

This looks encouraging, from what I have seen.

By the way, here’s my proposal for a National Club Competition, men’s and women’s, which I call the Elite Rugby Series (ERS):
* The ERS shall consist of 20 teams, comprised of four teams each from the Shute Shield, Hospital Cup, and John Dent Cup, along with two teams each from the Dewar Shield, WA Premier Grade and SA Premier Grade, and one team each from the Darwin Premier Grade and Tasmanian Premier Grade: this is based on season rankings.
* There shall be a player draft eight weeks before the competition, in order to prevent Shute Shield and Hospital Cup teams from completely dominating the competition, and ensure fan and sponsor interest.
* The teams will be seeded and drawn into four pools of five, with each club playing nine pool games, i.e. each team plays the other four teams in their pool and the five teams in another pool once.
* At the end of the pool rounds, the top two teams in each pool will advance to a knockout tournament, culminating in the Grand Final.

Personally, I think this one is a real winner, and has a built-in broad appeal that extends to fans outside the Sydney and Brisbane base.

I also hope that there is an NRC of some type in the future when (not if, in my opinion) Super Rugby Pacific gives up the ghost.

If we’re talking about a club being relocated to Adelaide, I would pick Balmain after the Wests Tigers fall over (while the Wests Magpies return as a standalone club) under a deal similar to the one the Bears made to move to Perth so they could come back into the NRL in 2027 (the Bears’ NRLW team is TBD, as far as I know).

If the Sharks have to be relocated, I would have the Northern Territory as my preferred destination – while it’s a dark horse, the AFL are leaning towards putting their 20th team there, and the NT would also give you a three-way rivalry with Adelaide and Papua New Guinea (the Sharks and Tigers also carries over from NSW).

Also, having NRLW teams in Perth, Adelaide and the NT would be a smashing success – I don’t think any NRLW players and coaches have ever thought of Adelaide or the NT having teams.

I would be getting rid of Super Rugby altogether and replacing it with two major competitions.

The first is a new domestic competition, the Australian Rugby Union Championship, with ten teams – the four Super Rugby teams (with city branding), plus a second team in Brisbane, as well as teams in Melbourne, Western Sydney, Queensland Country, NSW Country and Adelaide (a first for Australian rugby). This allows us to have a 19 round fixture for a home-and-away season (with mid-season byes) and a McIntyre Final Five, allowing for the ARU Championship to be played between mid-March and August.

The second is a national club competition, the Elite Rugby Series (ERS), with 20 teams – four teams each from the Shute Shield, Hospital Cup, and John Dent Cup, along with two teams each from the Dewar Shield, WA Premier Grade and SA Premier Grade, and one team each from the Darwin Premier Grade and Tasmanian Premier Grade, based on season rankings: there are five pools of four teams, with each club playing nine pool games (six games in their pool, home-and-away, and three cross-pool games).

At the end of the pool rounds, the top team in each pool and best three second-placed teams will advance to a knockout tournament, culminating in the Grand Final: this allows the ERS to run from early September to late November.

There will also be a player draft eight weeks before the ERS, in order to prevent Shute Shield and Hospital Cup teams from completely dominating the competition, and ensure fan and sponsor interest.

I had four Shute Shield and four Hospital Cup clubs in my refined 20-team model featuring all states and territories (NB: I also had four teams from the John Dent Cup, along with two teams each from the Dewar Shield, WA Premier Grade and SA Premier Grade, and one team each from the Darwin Premier Grade and Tasmanian Premier Grade, all based on season rankings.)

A comp having all 21 of the clubs from NSW and Queensland qualify automatically with three composite teams, in my view, is a very poor way to run things (sorry to tell you that) – I also have five pools of four as opposed to a promotion/relegation system.

This is a fantastic concept, Lachie, though I would make a few changes to increase the appeal of the ERS – including a women’s series – and involve all states and territories.

For starters, I would have four teams from each of the Shute Shield, Hospital Cup and John Dent Cup, with two teams from each of the Dewar Cup, SA Premier Grade and WA Premier Grade, and one from the Northern Territory and Tasmanian competitions – based on their season rankings (so 20 teams instead of ten).

Prior to the draw, there will also be a player draft: this is in order to prevent the Shute Shield and Hospital Cup teams from perennially dominating the Series, as other states and territories will not bother to enter otherwise.

The teams are then drawn into five pools of four, with each club playing nine games, i.e. six games in their pool (home-and-away) and three cross-pool games, in the men’s and women’s competitions.

At the end of the pool rounds, the top team in each pool and best three second-placed teams will advance to a knockout tournament, which culminates in the Grand Final – all told, the series gives the clubs nine to 12 games as you intended.

They would be higher if All Blacks players were playing, no question.

A National Club Competition will work if a) it is at the end of the season, and b) it also gives the clubs outside the Shute Shield and the Hospital Cup an opportunity to be competitive or even win the Competition – otherwise, they won’t bother to enter.

I had 28 teams in seven pools of four on a home and away basis followed by a four-week knockout for the format, while there would be a player draft a few weeks before the draw – I also had a Women’s Club Competition as well, which could also be played concurrently (as not having one would alienate women’s club rugby players and women fans).

Any Australian NRC and the Kiwi NPC are two completely different beasts – also, we should have a breakaway NRC with the Super Rugby clubs and a National Club Competition.

I believe that if you need relevance, that you need a Women’s Sheffield Shield (or a pilot at least), and that it is also time to admit Canberra to the Shield.

I would personally have an NRC with the four Super Rugby teams (using city branding), the Rebels, Western Sydney, a second Brisbane team, NSW Country, Queensland Country and an Adelaide team (a first for Australian Rugby). This gives a competition of ten teams, allowing us to have a 19 round fixture for a home-and-away season (with mid-season byes) and a McIntyre Final Five.

Also, if you want to try something with a National Club Competition, I had a 28 team setup with seven pools of four and a four-week knockout: this would have seeding and a player draft a few weeks beforehand to prevent the Shute Shield and Hospital Cup teams from perennially dominating the competition (since teams outside NSW and Queensland wouldn’t bother to enter otherwise).

I have a different way to make this work, since the club competition proposed would be perennially dominated by Shute Shield and Hospital Cup teams, meaning the other states would have little or no prospect of winning: this, and the lack of a women’s competition, means that clubs from other states and territories and women’s players would all find this competition to be a total waste of time.

I would have a breakaway NRC with a men’s and women’s competition comprised of the four Super Rugby teams (using city branding), the Rebels, Western Sydney, a second Brisbane team, NSW Country, Queensland Country and an Adelaide team (a first for Australian Rugby) over 19 weeks (home-and-away with one bye) with a McIntyre Final Five, similar to how the Shute Shield and Hospital Cup run their competitions – also, you have existing brands for some of the teams, as opposed to starting everything from scratch.

As for a National Club Competition, I had a 28 team setup with seven pools of four and a four-week knockout in men’s and women’s competitions, with teams from all states and territories: this would also have seeding and a player draft a few weeks beforehand to give the teams outside Sydney and Brisbane a chance of being competitive or winning.